1 ON MICHEL KERVAIRE’S WORK IN SURGERY AND KNOT THEORY Andrew Ranicki (Edinburgh) http://www.maths.ed.ac.uk/ � aar/slides/kervaire.pdf Geneva, 11th and 12th February, 2009
2 1927 – 2007
3 Highlights ◮ Major contributions to the topology of manifolds of dimension � 5. ◮ Main theme: connection between stable trivializations of vector bundles and quadratic refinements of symmetric forms. ‘Division by 2’. ◮ 1956 Curvatura integra of an m -dimensional framed manifold = Kervaire semicharacteristic + Hopf invariant. ◮ 1960 The Kervaire invariant of a (4 k + 2)-dimensional framed manifold. ◮ 1960 The 10-dimensional Kervaire manifold without differentiable structure. ◮ 1963 The Kervaire-Milnor classification of exotic spheres in dimensions � 4 : the birth of surgery theory. ◮ 1965 The foundation of high dimensional knot theory, for S n ⊂ S n +2 with n � 2.
4 MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS + 1 Kervaire was the author of 66 papers listed (1954 – 2007) +1 unlisted : Non-parallelizability of the n -sphere for n > 7, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 44, 280–283 (1958) 619 matches for ”Kervaire” anywhere, of which 84 in title. 18,600 Google hits for ”Kervaire”. MR0102809 (21 #1595) Kervaire, Michel A. An interpretation of G. Whitehead's ) Kervaire, Michel A. , An interpretation of G. Whitehead's MR0102809 (21 #1595) ( g generalization of H. Hopf's invariant. Ann. of Math. (2) generalization of H. Hopf's invariant. Ann. of Math. (2) 69 1959 345--365. ( ) 69 1959 345--365. (Reviewer: E. H. Brown) 55.00 (Reviewer: E. H. Brown) 55.00 MR0102806 (21 #1592) MR0102806 (21 #1592) Kervaire, Michel A. On the Pontryagin classes of certain ( ) Kervaire, Michel A. , On the Pontryagin classes of certain ${\rm SO}(n)$-bundles over manifolds. Amer. J. Math. 80 1958 632--638. ${\rm SO}(n)$-bundles over manifolds. Amer. J. Math. 80 1958 632--638. (Reviewer: W. S. Massey) 55.00 (Reviewer: W. S. Massey) 55.00 MR0094828 (20 #1337) Kervaire, Michel A. Sur les formules d'intégration de l'analyse vectorielle. (French) Enseignement Math. (2) 3 1957 126--140. (Reviewer: O. Varga) 53.00 MR0090051 (19,760c) Kervaire, Michel A. Relative characteristic classes. Amer. MR0090051 (19,760c) ( , ) Kervaire, Michel A. , Relative characteristic classes. Amer. J. Math. 79 (1957), 517--558. (Reviewer: G. Hirsch) 55.0X J. Math. 79 (1957), 517--558. (Reviewer: G. Hirsch) 55.0X MR0086302 (19,160b) MR0086302 (19,160b) Kervaire, Michel Courbure intégrale généralisée et ( , ) Kervaire, Michel , Courbure intégrale généralisée et homotopie. (French) Math. Ann. 131 (1956), 219--252. (Reviewer: H. Hopf) homotopie. (French) Math. Ann. 131 (1956), 219--252. (Reviewer: H. Hopf) 55.0X 55.0X MR0058972 (15,458c) Kervaire, Michel Extension d'un théorème de G. de Rham et expression de l'invariant de Hopf par une intégrale. (French) C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 237, (1953). 1486--1488. (Reviewer: S. Chern) 56.0X
5 MR0189048 (32 #6475) Kervaire, Michel A. Le théorème de Barden-Mazur- MR0189048 (32 #6475) ( ) Kervaire, Michel A. , Le théorème de Barden-Mazur- Stallings. (French) Comment. Math. Helv. 40 1965 31--42. (Reviewer: N. H. Stallings. (French) Comment. Math. Helv. 40 1965 31--42. (Reviewer: N. H. g Kuiper) 57.10 Kuiper) 57.10 MR0179802 (31 #4044) Kervaire, Michel A. Geometric and algebraic ) Kervaire, Michel A. , Geometric and algebraic MR0179802 (31 #4044) ( intersection numbers. intersection numbers. Comment. Math. Helv. 39 1965 271--280. (Reviewer: E. H. Comment t. Math. Helv. 39 1965 271--280. (Reviewer: E. H. Brown) 57.20 (57.32) Brown) 57.20 (57.32) ( ) MR0178475 (31 #2732) Kervaire, Michel A. On higher dimensional knots. 1965 MR0178475 (31 #2732) ( ) Kervaire, Michel A. , On higher dimensional knots. 1965 Differential and Combinatorial Topology (A Symposium in Honor of Marston Differential and Combinatorial Topology (A Symposium in Honor of Marston g Morse) pp. 105--119 Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, N.J. (Reviewer: J. F. Morse) pp. 105--119 Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, N.J. (Reviewer: J. F. Adams) 57.20 (55.20) Adams) 57.20 (55.20) ( ) MR0148075 (26 #5584) MR0148075 (26 #5584) Kervaire, Michel A.; Milnor, John W. Groups of ( ) Kervaire, Michel A. , ; Milnor, John W. , Groups of homotopy spheres. I. Ann. of Math. (2) 77 1963 504--537. (Reviewer: J. F. homotopy spheres. I. Ann. of Math. (2) ( ) 77 1963 504--537. (Reviewer: J. F. Adams) 57.10 Adams) 57.10 MR0164353 (29 #1650) Kervaire, Michel La méthode de Pontryagin pour la classification des applications sur une sphère. (French) 1962 Topologia Differenziale (Centro Internaz. Mat. Estivo, deg. 1 Ciclo, Urbino, 1962), Lezione 3 13 pp. Edizioni Cremonese, Rome (Reviewer: J. F. Adams) 57.20 MR0133134 (24 #A2968) Kervaire, Michel A.; Milnor, John W. On $2$-spheres MR0133134 (24 #A2968) ( ) Kervaire, Michel A. , ; Milnor, John W. , On $2$-spheres in $4$-manifolds. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 47 1961 1651--1657. (Reviewer: A. in $4$-manifolds. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 47 1961 1651--1657. (Reviewer: A. Haefliger) 57.20 Haefliger) 57.20 MR0139172 (25 #2608) Kervaire, Michel A. A manifold which does not admit MR0139172 (25 #2608) ( ) Kervaire, Michel A. , A manifold which does not admit any differentiable structure. Comment. Math. Helv. 34 1960 257--270. (Reviewer: any differentiable structure. Comment. Math. Helv. 34 1960 257--270. (Reviewer: R. Bott) 57.10 R. Bott) 57.10 MR0121801 (22 #12531) Milnor, John W.; Kervaire, Michel A. Bernoulli ) Milnor, John W. , ; Kervaire, Michel A. , Bernoulli MR0121801 (22 #12531) ( numbers, homotopy groups, and a theorem of Rohlin. 1960 Proc. Internat. numbers, homotopy groups, and a theorem of Rohlin. 1960 Proc. Internat. Congress Math. 1958 pp. 454--458 Cambridge Univ. Press, New York (Reviewer: Congress Math. 1958 pp. 454--458 Cambridge Univ. Press, New York (Reviewer: g k F. Hirzebruch) 57.00 (55.00) F. Hirzebruch) 57.00 (55.00) ( ) MR0113237 (22 #4075) Kervaire, Michel A. Some nonstable homotopy groups of Lie groups. Illinois J. Math. 4 1960 161--169. (Reviewer: J. Dugundji) 57.00 MR0113230 (22 #4068) Kervaire, Michel A. Sur l'invariant de Smale d'un plongement. (French) Comment. Math. Helv. 34 1960 127--139. (Reviewer: S. Smale) 57.00 MR0114230 (22 #5054) Kervaire, Michel A. Sur le fibré normal à une variété plongée dans l'espace euclidien. (French) Bull. Soc. Math. France 87 1959 397--401. (Reviewer: W. S. Massey) 57.00 MR0107863 (21 #6585) Kervaire, Michel A. A note on obstructions and characteristic classes. Amer. J. Math. 81 1959 773--784. (Reviewer: W. S. Massey) 55.00 MR0105118 (21 #3863) Kervaire, Michel A. Sur le fibré normal à une sphère immergée dans un espace euclidien. (French) Comment. Math. Helv. 33 1959 121--131. (Reviewer: S. Smale) 55.00
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